2019 Rome E-Prix
2019 Rome eTrophy Race |pole = André Lotterer |natp = GER |pteam = DS Techeetah |natpt = CHI |ptime = 1:32.123 |fastdrive = Sébastien Buemi |natfl = SUI |flteamnat = JAP |flteam = Nissan e.Dams |fltime = 1:31.499 |lapno = 28 |winner = Mitch Evans |nat1 = NZL |nat2 = GER |sec = André Lotterer |nat3 = BEL |third = Stoffel Vandoorne |wteam = Jaguar Racing |natt = GBR |wtime = 1:33:51.140 |previous = 2019 Sanya E-Prix |next = 2019 Paris E-Prix}} The 2019 Rome E-Prix, otherwise officially known as the 2019 GEOX E Rome E-Prix, was the seventh round of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, staged at the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR in Rome, Italy, on 13 April 2019.'ABB FIA Formula E Championship Season 5', info.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 07/06/2018), http://info.fiaformulae.com/season-5-calendar/, (Accessed 07/06/2018)'Geox takes title sponsor for Rome race on April 13', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 04/04/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/april/geox-takes-title-sponsor-for-rome, (Accessed 07/04/2019) The race was to be the first round of the inaugural Voestalpine European Races, a mini-Championship within FE that would run until the 2019 Bern E-Prix.Sam Smith, 'voestalpine European Races Cup Announced', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 05/12/2018), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/voestalpine-european-races-cup-announced/, (Accessed 06/12/2018) Qualifying would see André Lotterer slither his way to pole position in damp conditions, with Super Pole having been caressed by rain.'Lotterer clinches maiden Julius Baer Pole Position ahead of Rome showdown', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 13/04/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/april/qualifying-rome-2019, (Accessed 13/04/2019) His closest challenger proved to be Mitch Evans in his Jaguar, as the major title pretenders qualified in the lower half of the field. The rain would hang around in Rome after qualifying, keeping the circuit damp through until the start of the race.'Emotional maiden win for Evans in Rome, Lotterer second', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 13/04/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/april/race-report-rome-2019, (Accessed 13/04/2019) As such it was a slippery start to the race with Lotterer easing ahead of Evans, while José María López almost went skating down the escape road after an ambitious lunge around the outside of the hairpin. That was just the start of a wild opening tour for López, who first removed Sam Bird from the race at the turn eleven/twelve hairpin, before would losing control at the Bus stop chicane and hitting the barriers, prior to being hit by Gary Paffett. The Brit himself was then lifted up off his rear-wheels by Jean-Éric Vergne, resulting in the circuit being blocked and the red flag thrown. A three quarter of an hour delay followed, with Envision Virgin managing to replace a driveshaft on Bird's car after the Brit limped back to the pits. He was hence able to join ten other drivers, including López, in completing a lap around the circuit, before joining the back of the queue behind the BMW Qualcomm i8 safety car for the restart. The restart proved fairly tame, with several drivers arming Attack Mode, although crucially neither Lotterer, Evans or third placed Stoffel Vandoorne did so. Yet, those three would ease clear during the early stages of the race, leaving Sébastien Buemi to squabble with his teammate Oliver Rowland and Edoardo Mortara for fourth. The race would run clean through until lap fourteen, where a full course yellow was required to remove a stranded Felipe Massa. The race resumed with sixteen minutes to go, with Evans immediately arming Attack Mode to take the fight to Lotterer. Ultimately it took a robust move from the Kiwi to grab the lead, with Evans slotting his Jaguar inside of Lotterer's Techeetah at the turn eleven/twelve chicane. A few minor brushes and the Jaguar squirrelled ahead, with Lotterer arming Attack Mode a lap later to try and get his revenge. Yet, it was not to be for Lotterer, who used both his Attack Modes to try and get back at the Kiwi but failed to get back ahead. Evans hence claimed his maiden FE victory after backing off once Lotterer ran out of boost, while Vandoorne just made it to the chequered flag in third before he suffered a driveshaft failure. Background The Circuto Cittadino dell’EUR in Rome's financial district returned for the 2018/19 season, with no modifications, barring the addition of the Attack Mode activation zone, made to the circuit since 2018. The tight 2.848 km (1.770 mi) circuit was also chosen as the opening round of the voestalpine sponsored European Races, a mini-Championship within FE that would run throughout the European phase of the season. That Championship would encompass all five E-Prix staged in Europe, with the winning driver across the five rounds taking a trophy and prize money. Rome Reformations Ahead of the Rome E-Prix there would be a shuffle of drivers at GEOX DRAGON once again, with Felipe Nasr set to miss the race due to his commitments in the IMSA Weathertech Championship in the US.Alex Kalinauckas, 'Gunther replaces Nasr for Rome Formula E race', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 26/03/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/gunther-replaces-nasr-rome-dragon/4358685/, (Accessed 26/03/2019) Several drivers were reportedly evaluated by Dragon for the seat, most notably their Italian test driver Raffaele Marciello, before the team settled on German racer Maximilian Günther.Sam Smith, 'Marciello’s Rome Debut Possible; Double Duty Necessary', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 17/02/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/marciellos-rome-debut-possible-double-duty-necessary/, (Accessed 20/02/2019) Indeed, Rome would mark Günther's return to the FE paddock, after his "three race programme" with GEOX DRAGON at the start of the season had concluded at the 2019 Santiago E-Prix.Sam Smith, 'Nasr to Replace Guenther at GEOX Dragon', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 05/02/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/nasr-to-replace-guenther-at-geox-dragon/, (Accessed 05/02/2019) The FIA, meanwhile, would spend the time after the Sanya E-Prix clarifying their stance on contact during races, after several incidents in 2018/19.Alex Kalinauckas, 'FIA adopts tougher stance on FE driver contact', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 12/04/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/fia-tougher-stance-driver-contact/4369187/, (Accessed 13/04/2019) Their decision was to implement a "yellow card" system, which will effectively ensure that drivers are punished for having too many minor incidents, with more significant collisions warranting immediate investigations. This change was made due to the more robust nature of the Spark SRT05e, which was able to survive much more significant contact without sustaining pace altering damage. Elsewhere, it was announced that multiple Olympic cycling gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy would be attending the E-Prix, driving the demonstration Spark SRT05e around the circuit ahead of the race.Graham Keilloh, 'Chris Hoy to drive Formula E demo car in Rome', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 10/04/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/chris-hoy-fe-demo-car-rome/4367582/, (Accessed 10/04/2019) The British Olympian had moved into racing cars rather than bikes after retiring from international competition, becoming a Nissan Nismo backed driver en-route to a drive at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. Hoy would be making his debut in a full electric racecar in Rome, having recently restarted his racing career with at National level in the Caterham 420R UK Championship. Piquet's Preference After a disappointing start to their 2018/19 campaign Jaguar Racing and Nelson Piquet Jr. announced that they would be parting ways ahead of the trip to Rome, although neither cited the British squad's poor start.Alex Kalinauckas, 'Piquet splits with Jaguar Formula E team', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 28/03/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/piquet-jaguar-split/4359901/, (Accessed 28/03/2019) Indeed, Piquet would decide that his commitments to the Stock Car Brazil Championship were his focus for the entirety of 2019, making it impossible for him to continue racing in FE for the time being. Jaguar, meanwhile, would thank the Brazilian for his efforts, before confirming that their test and reserve driver Alex Lynn would drive for them for the rest of the campaign.Jake Kilshaw, 'Lynn Confirmed as Piquet Replacement', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 28/03/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/lynn-confirmed-as-piquet-replacement/, (Accessed 28/03/2019) Mercedes & Other Machinations Mercedes-Benz conducted the first tests of their 2019/20 creation, the EQ Silver Arrow 01, using the first two of their fifteen test days at the Varano test track at the end of March.Alex Kalinauckas, 'Mercedes Formula E car makes track debut', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 03/04/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/mercedes-car-track-debut-varano/4364074/, (Accessed 03/04/2019) Those tests would feature two Mercedes factory drivers, namely Stoffel Vandoorne of HWA Racelab, and Edoardo Mortara of the Venturi Formula E Team, with the pair recording a reported 527 km (327 mi). Gary Paffett was meant to test the car instead of Mortara, although the British racer was otherwise occupied with his duties in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Elsewhere, eight of the manufacturers competing in the 2018/19 edition of FE were lobbying for a change to the rulebook, effectively outlawing the use of two MGUs (Motor Generation Units) to drive the wheels.Sam Smith, 'Manufacturers Support Dual-MGU Ban for Season Seven', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 10/04/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/dual-mgu-ban-mooted-for-season-seven/, (Accessed 10/04/2019 The move came amid widespread rumours that Nissan, the only manufacturer using such a design, were gaining an unfair advantage using dual-MGUs, effectively using one as a flywheel to temporarily store energy. Yet, with the FIA had found no issues with the system after an investigation, Nissan's rivals hoped to get the concept banned from 2020/21 onward, in hopes of preventing a sudden rise in research and development costs in an otherwise cost-controlled series. Away from the rulebook and were some more rumours about the 2019/20 season calendar ahead of the trip to Rome, with suggestions that the 2019 Ad Diriyah E-Prix, set to stage the season opener, would move to a "Christmas" double-header.Sam Smith, 'Saudi ‘Christmas Race’ Possible for Season Six Opener', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 08/04/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/saudi-christmas-race-possible-for-season-six-opener/, (Accessed 10/04/2019) The potential move was motioned due to the large number of FIA events taking in the Middle East in December 2019, with Formula One, the World Endurance Championship and the FIA Awards Gala all set to take place in the region. FE's options were further reduced after WTCR were forced to move the dates of their season finale in Sepang to the 15-16 December, as well as FE Holdings determination to host a twilight or night race. Compelling Conclusions Into the Championship and Jean-Éric Vergne had moved right to the front of the hunt after claiming victory in Sanya, jumping ahead of former leader Sam Bird. Furthermore, Bird's early retirement in China had allowed António Félix da Costa to jump back into the lead of the title chase, although the Portuguese ace was just a point ahead of Jérôme d'Ambrosio in second. A seven point gap then followed before the appearance of Vergne and Bird, level on 54, while Lucas di Grassi and Edoardo Mortara were fifth and sixth on 52. It was an even tighter picture in the Teams' Championship upon arrival in Rome, with Envision Virgin Racing and Mahindra Racing level on 97 points at the head of the field. Furthermore, third placed Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler were just a point back, while DS Techeetah were only a point off of the German squad in fourth. The top five was then completed by BMW i Andretti Motorsport, just seventeen off the lead themselves, ahead of a thirteen point gap to Venturi. Entry List The full entry list for the is displayed below: Practice FP1 FP2 Qualifying Qualifying for the Rome E-Prix would follow the conventional format, with the field split into four groups based on Championship position.'Pre-Race Round-Up: Massa 'at home,' Di Grassi cranks up the pressure and Bird 'confident' ahead of Rome race', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 12/04/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/april/pre-race-round-up-rome-2019, (Accessed 13/04/2019) Each group would get six minutes on circuit to allow each driver to set a single full power (250kw) lap, with the fastest six over all proceeding to Super Pole. The drivers in Super Pole would then head out one-by-one to set another flying lap, with the fastest of those starting the race from pole. Group 1 The opening group of the weekend would feature the top five in the Championship, with António Félix da Costa at the head of the pack. He was to be joined on circuit by Jérôme d'Ambrosio of Mahindra Racing, and former quali-specialist Jean-Éric Vergne in the first of the DS Techeetahs. Joining them would be two Audi built powertrains, with Lucas di Grassi piloting a factory Audi, while Sam Bird would use an identical car run by Envision Virgin. It was di Grassi who left the pit lane first with three minutes thirty left on the clock, although he would not be the first to set a time.ABB Formula E, 'Qualifying LIVE! 2019 GEOX Rome E-Prix | ABB FIA Formula E Championship', youtube.com, (YouTube: FIA Formula E, 13/04/2019), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3tuYz8Ht3k, (Accessed 13/04/2019) Indeed, while completing his out-lap Bird would find that he had a brake-by-wire issue while running in the standard power mode, and hence had to go straight onto his flying lap. Unsurprisingly his lap was rather scruffy, with Bird recording a 1:30.880 as his rivals started their efforts. Indeed, Bird's effort was to be beaten immediately once da Costa flashed across the line, the Portuguese ace claiming a 1:30.804. However, Vergne failed to beat the Brit's mark, slotting into third, only to be dumped to fourth by di Grassi as the Brazilian claimed third. d'Ambrosio, meanwhile, had a miserable lap to end the session in fifth, with the skies above Rome darkening to bring a threat of rain. Group 2 Edoardo Mortara was the first name in group two, which would contain those drivers positioned sixth through tenth in the Championship arriving in Rome. He would be joined on circuit by Robin Frijns and Daniel Abt in the second pair of Audis, as well as André Lotterer in the second DS Techeetah. Completing the group would therefore be the second Mahindra of Pascal Wehrlein, with all five expected to challenge for Super Pole. Mortara hit the circuit first during the second group, and duly delivered a clear full power lap to go fastest overall at the end of his run. He was chased across the line by Wehrlein, who went second fastest, before a poor effort from Abt left him down in seventh. Lotterer was next with a stunning final sector to leave him six tenths clear of Mortara, while Frijns slotted into third to concluded the quintet. Group 3 The first sextet of the afternoon would feature those positioned in eleventh through to sixteenth in the Championship head out, with several big names in the group. Arguably the best qualifier in the group was 2015/16 Champion Sébastien Buemi, who headlined the group alongside Nissan e.Dams teammate Oliver Rowland. They were to be joined by Alexander Sims in his BMW Andretti, Mitch Evans' Jaguar, Felipe Massa in the Venturi, and Oliver Turvey's lowly NIO. Sims was the first to start his flying lap during group three, although as he crested the bump at turn eight his BMW suddenly lost power. He subsequently ground to a stop with no drive to the back wheels of his car, with the Brit doing his best to park in a safe place. Unfortunately the race director decided to throw a red flag so that Sims' car could be pushed behind the barriers, in-spite of the fact that everyone else had passed his parked car. As such, the rest of the group were allowed to try again, albeit without getting a chance to complete a warm-up lap. Massa was the first to go and duly set a time could enough for sixth, only to be instantly shuffled out of Super Pole by Buemi, who claimed third overall. Rowland was next but his effort was hampered by a brush with the wall earlier on, which left him down the order, while Evans caused a stir by going second overall. Turvey, meanwhile, was a distant fourteenth. Group 4 The final sixth featured those in the lower reaches of the Championship, including FE returnees Maximilian Günther and Alex Lynn. They were to be joined on circuit by Stoffel Vandoorne and Gary Paffett in the two HWA Racelabs, with those two needing better luck than they had throughout the rest of the season. Completing the group would hence be José María López in the #7 GEOX DRAGON, and Tom Dillmann in the off-pace NIO. Rain had arrived in Rome as the final group hit the circuit, although it only managed to get throw a few spots of water at the circuit as the sextet started their flying laps. First out was Vandoorne, who subsequently produced an excellent effort to claim third overall, before Dillmann comparatively crawled across the line to claim seventeenth. A shock was then in store as Günther swept across the line to claim fourth ahead of teammate López, who claimed third, while Evans made his FE return in ninth ahead of Paffett, down thirteenth. Super Pole Heavier rain fell during the break between the end of the group stage and Super Pole, although it would only really affect the final sector. Buemi was the first out of the pits and hence the first to test the conditions, and duly went skating down the escape road on his out-lap at the hairpin, the new tarmac proving particularly slippery. He hence took a cautious approach to his flying lap, and hence could only record a 1:36.331. Günther went next and copied Buemi's escape road slide on his out-lap, before beating the Swiss ace by seventeenths on his lap. Vandoorne, meanwhile, would have no such issues on his lap, with a clean effort of 1:33.233 leaving his two seconds clear of Günther behind. López then managed to beat the Belgian's effort a couple of minutes later, in spite of some minor twitches, suggesting that the circuit was drying, but remained very slippery in certain parts. With that in mind Evans hit the circuit, and duly delivered a clean and controlled lap to go fastest with a 1:32.483. Finally, it was Lotterer's turn to set his final run, with the German on maximum attack in spite of the conditions. Ultimately that attitude proved to be the correct one, with the German surviving a complete lock-up of the rear-axle at the hairpin to set the fastest time, claiming pole by three tenths of a second. Post Qualifying The final qualifying result for the are outlined below: ** Lynn was permitted to start at the back of the grid after his times from qualifying were deleted. *† Wehrlein was given a five place grid penalty for speeding during a red flag. *‡ Sims was permitted to start at the back of the grid after failing to set a time within 110% of the fastest time during the group stage. Race Another rain shower post-qualifying ensured that the circuit was still damp as the field line-up on the grid, with the new tarmac proving to be particularly treacherous. Indeed there was also more water in the shaded sections of the circuit, although the starting grid appeared to be evenly greasy, meaning neither side would have a particular advantage over the other. Regardless, the field would make its familiar slow crawl from the dummy grid to full grid without issue, with André Lotterer leading the way from pole. Report It proved to be a long wait for the lights to go out to signal the start, with Evans almost managing to challenge Lotterer into the first corner, but ultimately had to relent to the DS Techeetah as Lotterer claimed the inside line. Behind, José María López was shuffled down the order trying to go around the outside of the opening corner, with the rest of the field making it through without issue. Indeed, it proved to be an unusually tame start to an E-Prix, until the field got around the first half of the opening lap. The first accident involved Maximilian Günther, who lost control through the fast, and damp, turn four, smashing his front wing as he slid across the circuit. The sister GEOX DRAGON of López was the next cause of an accident, punting Sam Bird into the wall at the turn eleven/twelve chicane, before Alexander Sims was fed into the wall at turn fifteen. Ultimately, however, all of those incidents would be overshadowed by a collision at turn seventeen, which required the red flag to be thrown in order to clear a completely blocked circuit. The cause was, as ever, López, whom had tried to use too much kerb taking the turn seventeen/eighteen chicane, and had subsequently spun into the wall, blocking the circuit. Gary Paffett the next man in the queue, had therefore had to slam on his brakes, only to be rear-ended by Jean-Éric Vergne, a collision which destroyed the back of the HWA run Venturi, and left the Brit's rear wheels up in the air. The rest of the pack came to a stop behind them, and would have to wait until the marshals had dragged Paffett's car out of the way in order to get back to the pits. Restart The race resumed behind the BMW Qualcomm i8 safety car half an hour later, with eleven drivers sent around to complete an extra lap to "un-lap" themselves, as well as bring their energy use back to the level of those that had been ahead of the turn seventeen pile-up. Regardless, Lotterer was released to lead the field to restart the race fully at the end of lap two, with significant gaps appearing throughout the order, particularly at the bottom end of the top ten. There would also be an en-masse sweep to the Attack Mode activation zone for those in the middle of the pack, with Edoardo Mortara leading that particular charge. Later around the lap and Robin Frijns tried a lunge at Sébastien Buemi through turn thirteen for fourth, but ultimately ended up having to fend off Oliver Rowland when the Brit tried to slip underneath him. A lap later and Frijns tried another lunge, this time on the brakes for turn eight, although Buemi would once again manage to keep him at bay, and allow Rowland to have another go at the Dutchman. That move was ultimately enough to allow Buemi to break away and arm Attack Mode a lap later as, further down the order, Mortara dived past teammate Felipe Massa, leaving the Brazilian to fend off Günther. Up front, meanwhile, Evans was now back on Lotterer's tail having slipped away from the German at the restart, and was eyeing up a lunge on the DS Techeetah into the final chicane. They were chased hard by Stoffel Vandoorne, who was the first of the leaders to take Attack Mode, while Vergne eased past Lucas di Grassi to claim eleventh through turn nine. That subsequently became tenth when Daniel Abt made a mistake into turn fourteen, the German sending himself into the escape road an plummeting down the order. Evans was throwing everything at Lotterer as the race ticked towards half distance, with locking wheels on the Jaguar a common sight as he hounded the back of the German's Techeetah. Further back, the two Venturis would both stop out on circuit with failures, with first Mortara and then Massa stopping on laps ten and twelve with identical driveshaft failures. The latter's failure at turn fourteen ultimately proved more disruptive, with a Full Course Yellow thrown to allow the #19 car to be plucked from the circuit. That would prove particularly troublesome to Vergne, who overtook da Costa as the pair hit the brakes to drop to obey the FCY's speed limit, putting him under investigation. The race resumed with 21 minutes left on the clock, with Evans instantly sweeping across the circuit to arm Attack Mode and continue his assault on Lotterer for the lead. Indeed, Evans got close enough to make a bid for the lead into the turn thirteen hairpin that Lotterer opted to squeeze the New Zealander towards the wall, a questionable ploy that just worked. Indeed, Evans would need a lap to regroup and continue his offensive, as António Félix da Costa attacked Günther with Attack Mode for eighth, with Vergne also sneaking through. Evans' next attack came on lap nineteen, with the New Zealander selling Lotterer a dummy into turn ten, which ultimately compromised the German's run through to the turn eleven/twelve chicane. Indeed, Evans got such a strong run that he managed to get inside the DS Techeetah and grab the lead on the brakes for the chicane, with Vandoorne also getting involved to further compromise Lotterer's exit. The Belgian would, however, ultimately fall shy of getting inside the German on the short sprint to the turn thirteen hairpin, with Evans able to escape up the road as they squabbled. Lotterer duly armed Attack Mode on the following lap in a bid to re-catch the Jaguar, and subsequently got into position to attack on lap 23, sending a lunge at the New Zealander into turn nine. Evans would, however, get a better run out of the corner and hold onto his lead, before going ultra-defensive into turn thirteen in order to prevent Lotterer from sending another lunge. Lotterer duly armed Attack Mode for a second and final time on the following lap, with Vandoorne having slipped too far back to challenge the German as he pulled out to arm the boost. Evans attempted to respond on the following lap, but managed to miss the first activation beam and so failed to get the boost, miraculously managing to keep ahead of Lotterer. Indeed, Lotterer suddenly found himself right under the Jaguar's tail once again, with another lunge into turn nine almost carrying him through to the lead, only to drop back on exit. That, ultimately, proved to be Lotterer's last attack with the aid of Attack Mode, with the German running out of the boost as the pair came to the end of lap 25. Indeed, Lotterer's bid for victory seemed to be over a lap later, as he slipped wide at turn eleven/twelve and lost time, allowing Evans to successfully arm Attack Mode on lap 27. Evans, however, was immediately told to ease his pace, with the Jaguar team predicting that he would have to complete an additional lap due to the 45 minute time rule unless he lost almost five seconds over the following two laps. Indeed, that put him right back in the sights of Lotterer as they started lap 28, although the German would only muster one half-hearted look at the New Zealander as the clock ticked to zero. Onto the final lap and Vergne was slapped with a drive-through penalty for overtaking during the FCY as, up front, Evans was able to escape up the road from Lotterer as the German had serious energy concerns. Indeed, as Evans swept home to claim a maiden victory for himself and Jaguar, Lotterer would just hold out to claim second, running out of energy moments after he crossed the line. Vandoorne, meanwhile, would finish a distant third having lacked the leader duo's pace in the latter stages, stopping at the end of the race with a driveshaft failure, while Frijns finally managed to get ahead of Buemi late on to claim fourth. Result The final classification of the is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold. * Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race. ** da Costa was handed a five second time penalty for starting the race with an undercharged battery.Sam Smith, 'Rome Post-Race Notebook', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 14/04/2019), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/rome-post-race-notebook-2/, (Accessed 15/04/2019) *† Vergne handed a 37 second time penalty (converted from a drive through) for overtaking under FCY conditions. *‡ Günther was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance. Günther was also awarded 42 seconds worth of time penalties for various infringements. Milestones * Second Rome E-Prix to be staged. ** Also the first ever round of the voestalpine European Races. * Fiftieth E-Prix starts for Sébastien Buemi and Jean-Éric Vergne. * Maiden pole position for André Lotterer. ** This was also the fifth pole for Techeetah as an entrant. * Mitch Evans claimed his maiden E-Prix victory. * First victory for Jaguar Racing as a constructor and powertrain supplier. * Stoffel Vandoorne secured his maiden podium finish. ** Also the first podium for HWA Racelab as an entrant. Standings Jérôme d'Ambrosio moved back to the top of the Championship after finishing eighth in Rome, opening a one point lead over António Félix da Costa. A two point gap then followed before André Lotterer appeared in third, a point ahead of race winner Mitch Evans, while Lucas di Grassi retained fifth, a further three back. Indeed, the Championship as a whole was incredibly tight after the seventh round, with thirteen points covering the top nine. In the Teams' Championship it was slightly more spread out, although DS Techeetah had been able to leap from fourth to the lead after just one point scoring finish in Italy. Indeed, they had opened out a seven point advantage over former leaders Envision Virgin Racing, with a further seven point gap back to Mahindra Racing in third. Audi Sport ABT Scheffler were next, level with Mahindra on points, while BMW i Andretti Motorsport completed the top five. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:2018/19 ePrix Category:Rome ePrix